The present invention relates to an apparatus for anaerobic purification of waste water, including a reactor space, a supply of influent at the lower side, gas separators and a discharge of gas and a discharge of effluent, respectively, at the upper side of the apparatus and to a method for anaerobic purification of waste water.
Such apparatus and method are known from Dutch patent application No. 8402337.
In the known apparatus the reactor passages, separator passages and return passage are in communication with each other.
This known apparatus has the disadvantage that it includes a great number of small gas caps, whereby the apparatus is complicated and, therefore, very expensive. Furthermore, the known apparatus occupies much space.
In such apparatus a so-called three-phase separation is effected wherein, at the upper side of the reactor in one and the same space, the separation of gas-sludge-water (G/S/L) takes place. Such systems experience in practice technical control problems resulting in less efficient purification.
Another important disadvantage of the known apparatus is the fact that good mixing of the active anaerobic sludge material and the influent does not take place, resulting in a less efficient anaerobic conversion and thus a longer required residence time of the influent in the apparatus.